With over 1/3 of the total NIH budget supporting studies with laboratory animals, it is clear that animal use is a major component of modern medical research and the proper use of animals involves the implementation of important research norms. Violating those norms constitutes a basic breach of research integrity. Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) are responsible for working with investigators to see that animal use follows the guidelines established by the U.S. Public Health Service. Given the importance of IACUCs in overseeing and enforcing norms about proper uses of animals in research, it is surprising that there has been little research describing the functioning of these important regulatory oversight committees. This missing information is important to understanding and enhancing how IACUCs carry out their key function of helping to assure the integrity of animal-based research and how their relationships with investigators affect the implementation of the norms about animal use in research. The proposed research will describe the key issues that IACUCs focus on when evaluating proposals for research on animals, and how organizational differences may affect those decisions. We will also characterize the interactive processes by which IACUCs make decisions including the roles of the different participants, the method of review used, the informational resources that members use in their reviews, and the requested changes that IACUCs make on different types of research proposals. The study will also address the relationship between the IACUC and the investigators and the impact this has on collaborative self-regulation of animal research. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): More than 1/3 of all NIH funding goes to projects that make use of animals and therefore must be reviewed by IACUCs. Efficient and effective organization of animal research reviews will both facilitate animal research and improve the integrity of that research. Because this research is important to the future of the American health system and its patients, it is important that the data collected be accurate and done quickly and efficiently. The proposed research is a first step in a research path that can produce policy and administrative recommendations that will facilitate effective and efficient functioning of IACUCs and thus animal research.